Thursday, March 31, 2011

BANGKOK (AFP) – Thai troops joined the search for victims of deadly mudslides that engulfed homes in the flood-hit south, officials said Thursday, as naval boats rescued hundreds of tourists stuck on holiday islands.

At least 15 people have died after unseasonably wet weather deluged the homes and businesses of around a million people in what should be one of the hottest months of the year.

Around 150 troops with sniffer dogs moved in to search for the dead and missing in the southern province of Krabi after a mudslide, army spokesman Colonel Sunsern Kaewkumnerd said, as at least two people were confirmed killed.

Over a week of rain has swept floodwaters across the south of the country, cutting off road and rail links and leaving tourists stuck on islands in the Gulf of Thailand and Andaman Sea as ferries and flights were cancelled.

Efforts to reach trapped visitors appeared to be making headway on Thursday as flights to Koh Samui returned to normal and the country's only aircraft carrier, Chakri Naruebet, joined the rescue effort.

The ship docked in Sattahip naval base early Thursday morning carrying 734 holidaymakers, 532 of them foreigners, who had been picked up on the islands of Koh Tao and Koh Phangan.

The navy said more frigates are expected to collect tourists from isolated islands in the Gulf of Thailand during the day.

Bangkok Airways said flights to Koh Samui were operating normally and predicted it would clear the backlog of stranded passengers on Thursday.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said ferries to Koh Samui and Koh Phangan had also resumed.

"But for small islands like Koh Tao the naval response was critical. Thousands of tourists were stuck there and there was not enough food and water, so we had to help them first," he said.

He said up to 10 people were missing in the Krabi area after the mudslide.

Local authorities confirmed two people had died as the sludge submerged around 17 homes in the area, but Thailand's disaster prevention and mitigation department indicated the death toll could be higher.

The department said another 13 people were killed in floods across other parts of the south, with nine dead in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, three along the coast in Surat Thani and one in neighbouring Phatthalung. Another 181 people were injured.

In all 81 districts of eight southern provinces have been declared disaster areas.

Hanoi - Two Western journalists are to be allowed to attend the Vietnam trial of a high-profile legal activist next week, an official from the Foreign Affairs Ministry said Thursday.

The court can only afford one seat for journalists working for European media at the trial of human rights lawyer Cu Huy Ha Vu on April 4 because of "limited space," the official who requested anonymity said.

The European media were to organize a representative among themselves, the official said. The US news agency The Associated Press was granted a separate seat.

No translators were to be allowed to assist the foreign journalists during the trial. Under an indictment signed February 17, Vu stands accused of spreading propaganda against the state.

The indictment said Vu had published articles and taken part in interviews with foreign media aimed at "smearing the authority of the people's government, carrying out psychological war, asking to overthrow the regime and demanding a multiparty system."

He could be jailed for three to 12 years if convicted. The lawyer gained notoriety in Vietnam after he tried to sue Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to stop Chinese-run bauxite mines in the Central Highlands, but the suit was dismissed.

In October, the lawyer again sued the premier over a decree that bars groups from filing petitions or complaints with the government.

The United Nations-backed tribunal in Cambodia dealing with mass killings and other crimes committed under the Khmer Rouge three decades ago today concluded the appeal hearing for the former head of a notorious detention camp who was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity last year.

31 Mar, 2011Source: UN News

The United Nations-backed tribunal in Cambodia dealing with mass killings and other crimes committed under the Khmer Rouge three decades ago today concluded the appeal hearing for the former head of a notorious detention camp who was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity last year.

Kaing Guek Eav, whose alias is Duch, was sentenced last July to 35 years in prison by the trial chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), with a five-year reduction to remedy his illegal detention at a Cambodian military court.

The court found that Mr. Kaing not only implemented, but also actively contributed to the development of the policies of the Communist Party of Kampuchea at the S-21 camp, where numerous Cambodians were unlawfully detained, subjected to inhumane conditions and forced labour, tortured and executed in the late 1970s.

During the three-day appeal hearing held by the ECCC"s Supreme Court Chamber, Mr. Kaing and his defence team reiterated that he was neither a senior leader nor one of those most responsible for heinous crimes being prosecuted at the court, and therefore should not have been tried at the court.

He told the chamber " consisting of four Cambodian judges and three internationals selected by the UN Secretary-General " that he merely acted on orders from his superior and he would have died if he didn"t. "I survived the regime, only because I respectfully and strictly followed the orders," he said.

Meanwhile, the prosecution demanded a life imprisonment for Mr. Kaing"s role as a chairman of the security prison, where at least 12,000 people died during the period from 17 April 1975 to 6 January 1979.

Co-Prosecutors Chea Leang and Andrew Cayley claimed that Mr. Kaing should have been cumulatively convicted for the crimes against humanity of persecution, enslavement, imprisonment, torture, rape, extermination and other inhumane acts as well as the enslavement of those detained in S-21. They demanded the Supreme Court Chamber impose a heavier sentence.

"We call for the imposition of a life term, reduced to 45 years simply to take account of that period of illegal detention," Mr. Cayley told the judges. "But for the purposes of history, a life term must be imposed in this case."

The Supreme Court Chamber is expected to hand down its appeals judgment in a few months. The appeal took place as the ECCC prepares for its second case concerning the four most senior members of the Democratic Kampuchea regime who are still alive.

Estimates vary but as many as two million people are thought to have died during the rule of the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979, which was then followed by a protracted period of civil war in the impoverished South-East Asian country.

The Vietnamese government has intensified repression of indigenous minority Christians from the country’s Central Highland provinces who are pressing for religious freedom and land rights, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The 46-page report, “Montagnard Christians in Vietnam: A Case Study in Religious Repression,” details the latest government crackdowns on these indigenous peoples, known collectively as Montagnards.

The report documents police sweeps to root out Montagnards in hiding. It details how the authorities have dissolved house church gatherings, orchestrated coerced renunciations of faith, and sealed off the border to prevent asylum seekers from fleeing to Cambodia.

Human Rights Watch found that special “political security” units conduct operations with provincial police to capture, detain, and interrogate people they identify as political activists or leaders of unregistered house churches. More than 70 Montagnards have been detained or arrested in 2010 alone, and more than 250 are known to be imprisoned on national security charges.

“Montagnards face harsh persecution in Vietnam, particularly those who worship in independent house churches, because the authorities don’t tolerate religious activity outside their sight or control,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch. “The Vietnamese government has been steadily tightening the screws on independent Montagnard religious groups, claiming they are using religion to incite unrest.”

Human Rights Watch documented the abuses in the Central Highlands, which is off-limits to independent, international rights groups, through interviews with Montagnards who have fled Vietnam and reports in Vietnam’s government-controlled media.

In an interview with Human Rights Watch, one Montagnard described his treatment at T-20, the provincial prison in Gia Lai, after he was arrested for participating in a protest calling for religious freedom and land rights:

"They questioned me at any time, even midnight. The police would get drunk, wake me up, and question me and beat me. They put me in handcuffs when they took me out for questioning. The handcuffs were like wire – very tight. They used electric shock on me every time they interrogated me. They would shock me on my knees, saying you used these legs to walk to the demonstration."

Sentenced to five years in prison for “violating national solidarity,” he remains partially deaf from repeatedly being boxed on both ears:

"They would stand facing me and shout: “One, two, three!” and then use both hands to box both of my ears at the same time. They would do this three times, the last time putting strong pressure on the ears. Blood came out of my ears and my nose. I went crazy from this. It was so painful, and also the build-up made me very afraid and tense."

The government says that Montagnards who belong to unregistered house churches outside the control of the official Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam are “Dega Protestants,” which authorities allege is not a legitimate religious group but a cover for a Montagnard independence movement. Vietnamese law requires all religious groups to register with the government and operate under government-approved religious organizations.

Human Rights Watch called on the Vietnamese government to immediately end its systematic repression of Montagnards, allow independent religious organizations to conduct religious activities freely, and release all Montagnards imprisoned for peaceful religious or political activities. Until Vietnam improves its record on religious freedom, Human Rights Watch calls on the US government to reinstate Vietnam’s designation as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for violations of religious freedom.

Using official Vietnamese media sources, Human Rights Watch documented the controversial practice of forced recantations of faith. Government officials have forced hundreds of Montagnard Catholics and Protestants to renounce their religion in public criticism sessions, violating internationally protected rights to freedom of religion and conscience. Those who resist and insist on their right to independent worship facing beatings, arrest, and imprisonment.

Provincial courts often hold “mobile trials” of people charged with national security crimes before hundreds of people, reinforcing the message not to follow unsanctioned religious groups.

“Freedom of religion does not mean freedom for state-sanctioned religions only,” Robertson said. “Vietnam should immediately recognize independent religious groups and let them practice their beliefs.”

While Protestant Montagnards have faced repression for many years, Catholic Montagnards have more recently become a target, particularly the “Ha Mon” Catholic sect, which started in Kon Tum in 1999. During 2010, officials charged that Montagnard exiles in the United States were manipulating the popular sect to undermine national unity. Forced renunciation ceremonies and public criticism meetings have been conducted in recent months in Kon Tum, Gia Lai, and Dak Lak provinces for Ha Mon followers, in which they are forced to confess to wrongdoings and to sign pledges to abandon the so-called “false religion.”

“People in the Central Highlands who wish to worship in independent house churches risk public humiliation, violent reprisals, arrest, and even prison time,” Robertson said.

The more than 250 Montagnards in prison or awaiting trial are charged with national security crimes such as “undermining national solidarity.” Many former Montagnard political prisoners and detainees report that they were severely beaten or tortured in police custody and pre-trial detention. Since 2001, at least 25 Montagnards have died in prisons, jails, or police lock-ups after beatings or illnesses sustained while in custody, or shortly after being prematurely released by prison authorities to a hospital or home.

Examples of forced renunciations of faith and harassment of peaceful activists at public criticism meetings in the Central Highlands covered by Vietnamese state media in recent months include:

In November 2010, Bao Gia Lai, the newspaper of the Gia Lai province Communist Party, reported on the ongoing “Struggle to Eliminate Dega Protestantism” in Ia Grai and Duc Co districts of Gia Lai, where border soldiers were breaking up so-called “reactionary gangs” of Dega Protestants in the border areas and bringing them in for public criticism sessions.

In October 2010, Bao Gia Lai reported that 567 households related to Dega Protestantism were “renouncing” the religion in Krong Pa district, Gia Lai, with the commune chief making daily visits to pressure 15 households who eventually pledged to abandon their religion.

During September 2010, Cong An Nhan Dan (People’s Police) newspaper reported that police in collaboration with local officials organized several public criticism ceremonies in Duc Co district, Gia Lai. In one session on September 29, 50 people from four villages in Duc Co district, Gia Lai, were summoned to be formally criticized in front of crowds of commune residents for having “disrupted security and order” during unrest at a rubber plantation on August 25, 2010. After admitting their wrongdoings, the report says, they pledged to abandon Dega Protestantism and other “reactionary” groups.

On June 6, 2010, as part of an official public ceremony in Dak Mil district, Dak Nong province to begin a “mass movement to protect national security,” Bao Dak Nong, the newspaper of the Dak Nong province Communist Party, reported, two men were brought forward to publicly confess to supporting Dega Protestantism and other “reactionary” groups.

Since 2001, thousands of Montagnards in Vietnam have fled harsh government crackdowns to Cambodia, where most have been recognized as refugees and resettled to the United States, Sweden, Finland, and Canada.

In December 2010, the Cambodian government ordered the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to close the Montagnard refugee center in Phnom Penh. With the centre's closure on February 15, 2011, Montagnards seeking to escape repression in Vietnam are left with fewer options.

“Montagnards will continue to try to flee Vietnam as long as the Vietnamese government systematically violates their basic rights,” said Robertson. “The Vietnamese government needs to end this repression immediately.”

Organisation representing hundreds of NGOs and associations yesterday came out strongly against the second draft of the government’s controversial NGO law, some threatening political fallout, while the government defended the law.

Three umbrella groups, which have represented hundreds of organisations in closed-door negotiations with the government in recent weeks, said they saw “no progress” in the second draft.

“The [majority] of the changes are minor and fail to address the fundamental concerns raised by [civil society organisations],” Sok Sam Oeun, executive director of the Cambodian Defenders Project, said in a statement released by the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia, NGO Forum and the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee.

“The most significant problem remains at the heart of the law: Registration is still mandatory,” the groups said.

Several networks representing dozens of community groups and associations also denounced the law yesterday, saying at a press conference in Phnom Penh that they had been deceived by the government.

“The latest draft is more restrictive for civil society organisations, which is contrary to the response that the Ministry of Interior gave to us by telephone, that they had accepted the majority of our proposed points,” the groups said in a statement.

“The latest draft law is a law to control civil society rather than to promote the rights of citizens in creating and forming organisations and associations.”

Several of the networks said there would be political fallout if the law was not changed significantly.

“We will not vote for the government if the ruling party does not respect our will. We have more than 1,000 local associations.... Therefore, the effective judgment over the Government’s policy is through the upcoming elections,” Vorn Pao, president of the Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association, said yesterday.

Um Mech, a representative of ethnic minority groups in Kampong Thom province, said lawmakers would be held accountable for their votes on the law.

“We are the voters. If the law is adopted without protecting our benefits and our rights, we will not vote for the government,” he said. “We voted for our representatives in the National Assembly because we need them to protect us, and now if they will approve the law without thinking about our interests ... This is the way of democracy.”

Um Mech said high rates of illiteracy among indigenous people would make the law’s registration and reporting requirements “a huge obstacle” to his organisation’s work. He also expressed concern about his ability to take on politically sensitive issues.

“Before this law, at least 30 people have been imprisoned for claiming their own land. If the law is adopted, there will be more people imprisoned,” he said.

The draft legislation has been roundly criticised for setting out vague and arbitrary government authority, mandatory registration and reporting requirements deemed burdensome for small organisations.The second draft also contains no explicit right to appeal government decisions, either to the courts or ministries.

The newest draft created a registration exception for “mass organisations”, also translated as “community-based organisations”, but did not define the term.

Nouth Sa An, secretary of state at the Ministry of Interior, defended the law.

“The allegation that we have not changed the draft is unacceptable. We have adopted about 90 percent of the changes requested by civil society,” he said yesterday.

Nouth Sa An said he did not know when the law would be submitted to the Council of Ministers, though he reportedly told NGO representatives in a meeting on Tuesday the deadline was the end of the week.“We are waiting to see an approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over the requests to change the draft law,” he said

Ouch Borith, secretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, could not be reached for comment yesterday, and spokesman Koy Kuong said he did not know about the matter.

In an analysis of the law released yesterday, local rights group Licadho said the new draft contained the same flaws as the first and would “further disempower Cambodian communities”.

“It must be remembered that the freedoms of association, expression and assembly in Cambodia are already heavily restricted, particularly at the community level,” the report said.

“Anyone who is perceived to be challenging local or government officials is open to persecution, including arrest, detention, threats and violence. The draft law must be assessed within this context,” Licadho said.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

PHNOM PENH, March 30, 2011 (AFP) - Survivors and relatives of some of the 15,000 people who died in a Khmer Rouge prison run by torture chief Duch made a final call for more reparations as his appeal case drew to a close Wednesday.

Cambodia's UN-backed court sentenced Duch, 68, in July to 30 years in jail for war crimes and crimes against humanity for overseeing mass murder at the notorious prison Tuol Sleng -- or S-21 -- in the late 1970s.

The only reparations the court awarded the victims, known as the civil parties, was to include their names in the judgment and agree to publish Duch's apologies.

Financial compensation for victims is not an option but their lawyers on Wednesday called for other forms of collective and moral redress, such as memorials or free psychological support.

Their appeal followed those of the defence and the prosecution earlier this week and marked “the last moment for civil parties to get justice”, Brice Poirier from Avocats Sans Frontieres, which represents some of the victims, told AFP.

Lawyers are also asking for more civil parties to be admitted after the lower court rejected 24 of the 90 applicants, saying they had failed to prove their harm was closely linked to Duch's actions.

This had caused “distress” to individuals already “traumatised once by the actions of the accused”, lawyer Karim Khan told the Supreme Court Chamber.

In their appeal on Monday, Duch's lawyers called for his acquittal and release, saying the court had no right to try him because he was “just a minor secretary” following orders.

The prosecution argued on Tuesday that Duch had failed to show “real, sincere remorse” and demanded life imprisonment, to be reduced to 45 years for time spent in unlawful detention before the tribunal was established.

A ruling on the appeals is expected in late June.

Anne Heindel, a legal advisor to the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, which collects evidence of Khmer Rouge atrocities, said the civil party appeal reminds the court that the proceedings are not just about legal arguments but about “the lives of flesh and blood victims”.

A bespectacled Duch could be seen scribbling notes throughout the hearing.

Duch was originally given a 35-year jail sentence but this was reduced for the period of illegal detention.

Given time already served, he could walk free in less than 19 years, to the dismay of many victims of the brutal 1975-1979 regime.

Led by “Brother Number One” Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge wiped out up to two million people through starvation, overwork and execution.

S-21, in Phnom Penh, was at the centre of the regime's security apparatus.

Duch has been detained since 1999, when he was found working as a Christian aid worker in the jungle. He was formally arrested by the tribunal in July 2007.

The General Statistics Office (GSO) has reported that the number of foreign tourists to visit Vietnam reached 1.51 million in the first three months of 2011, a year on year increase of 12%.

Foreign visitors in Hanoi

In March alone, Vietnam welcomed more than 475,700 foreign tourists, an increase of 5% compared to the same period last year.

Countries and territories recording the largest tourist arrivals to Vietnam in the first three months of 2011 include China, Korea, Japan, America, Taiwan (China), Australia, Cambodia, France, Malaysia and England.

The number of Japanese coming to Vietnam decreased only marginally despite effects of the earthquake disaster.

The number of Japanese visiting Vietnam reached 43,500 in March, decreasing 8% against February 2011, but increasing 10% compared to March 2010.

During the first quarter of 2011, Ho Chi Minh City welcomed around 900,000 foreign visitors, an increase of 6% compared to the same period last year.

In 2011, the local tourism sector has set a target of welcoming nearly 5.3 million foreign tourists and providing services to more than 30 million domestic tourists.

Vice State President Nguyen Thi Doan has expressed her belief that with efforts by states and people, the friendship between Vietnam and Cambodia would develop firmly.

The Vice State President expressed her aspiration while receiving a visiting delegation of Cambodian citizens headed by Khun Chhy, former Cambodian Transport Minister, in Hanoi on Mar. 29.

Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan meets delegation of Cambodian citizens

Stressing the traditional friendship and mutual assistance during the past struggle for national liberation and the current national construction, Doan confirmed that the fine relations between the two countries resulted from the efforts and devotion of generations of Vietnamese and Cambodians and there was a responsibility in educating young people to continue these precious traditions.

Khun Chhy appreciated assistance from the Vietnamese people to help the Cambodian people escape from genocide and said Cambodia would never forget the help and devotion of the Vietnamese volunteer soldiers in the past.

He informed the hosts that during the visit the delegation met Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts, who stood side by side with the Cambodian people during their past difficulties.

The same day, the Cambodian delegation was received by Vu Xuan Hong, President of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations, who expressed his hope that the visit would contribute to boosting the traditional friendship between the two people.

The Cambodian delegation also paid a tribute to President Ho Chi Minh at his mausoleum.

Wednesday, 30 March 2011 15:00 Tharum BunPhnom Penh PostTharum Bun considers the tragedy in Japan as it relates to Cambodia and the worldHow Japan as a nation bounced back after its defeat in World War II, and more recently the double natural disasters of the massive earthquake and tsunami, followed by the nuclear plant’s continuing crisis, have made me wonder how the Japanese have coped and overcome some of the worst things in the world’s history.

To further understand this, it’s worth delving deeply into Japanese philosophy and literature. The awareness of impermanence has always been a cultural tradition on this country of islands of more than 127 million people. As a widely-regarded Japanese poet simply put it in his poem, To Live: “To live, to live now, means to become thirsty, to be dazzled by the sun filtering through the tree leaves, to unexpectedly remember a melody, to sneeze, to join hands with you.”

Being able to possess an answer to this philosophical question on life has probably helped them get through the numerous major disasters they’ve faced, including this 2011 earthquake and tsunami, the strongest one in its recorded history. The 9.0-magnitude undersea earthquake off the Japanese coast also triggered the tsunami that killed more than 10,000, despite modern Japan’s infrastructure such as buildings and sea walls that were built to help protect human lives from natural disasters.

Cambodians and the Japanese have been in similar situations where the unprecedented number of deaths should not have happened at all. In Cambodia, this horrific history remains a work in progress for Cambodia as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia is helping to explain the regime’s roles in mass murder, whereas in Japan, a quick recovery is high on the agenda. But it’s that great foundation within the Japanese culture and their traditions that can make this nation breath new life, making it an invaluable lesson for people in Cambodia to learn. For instance, during and after the recent tragedy, many people pointed out the stoic Japanese set of core values, honour, dignity, discipline, civility and grace, among other things that can dramatically change the course of consequences this country faces.

While this tragedy was beyond anyone’s control, it’s the Japanese people who are at the heart of this crisis. Their moral code, strong faith in Buddhist philosophy and the Shinto religions, conformity and consensus which are considered virtues in Japanese culture are invaluable for Cambodians to try to understand.

Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge atrocity left about two million people dead. In Cambodia’s case, it was the slave labour that worked as a killing machine. Last year, hundreds of people died in the so-called bridge stampede as millions visited Phnom Penh to celebrate the annual Water Festival. The government admitted that it was the country’s second worst tragedy since the Khmer Rouge. It was due to human error. Until we’re able to admit this bitter lesson, and learn from it, we should not be able to build new bridges, satellite cities and the city’s facilities and infrastructure just for the sake of Cambodia’s modern urbanisation.

As we’re able to learn what’s going on as Japan’s crisis unfolds, it’s heart-wrenching to see how a natural disaster took away lives in a matter of minutes. However, we shouldn’t forget how the survivors and those not affected joined hands to get their feet up and off the muddy ground and to believe that each person is not alone and that life is about suffering and revitalisation.

As Shuntaro Tanikawa, the Japanese poet, ended his poem: “To live, to live now, means a bird flaps its wings, the sea thunders, a snail crawls, people love, the warmth of your hands, life itself.”

When we talk to young Cambodians who have spent a couple of years in Japan, they tell us how much they praise modern Japan, while also acknowledging that all this modernity came from nowhere, but the traditions and culture that make up Japan today.

The Constitution Court Wednesday rejected a request by lawmakers to rule whether the Thailand-Cambodia Joint Boundary Commission (JBC)'s minutes of meeting saying it was not the stage for the court to have any injunctions on this matter.

By the consequence of the court's decision, the parliament needed to resume its consideration of the JBC's documents, according to the Parliament President Chai Chidchob. The parliament was scheduled to discuss the issue on April 5.

Dam Ba Van, director of the Long An fuel company, the local distributor for the Vietnam Fuel Corporation, admitted the scarcity of diesel is causing trouble for farmers and fishermen.

He listed three reasons for the fuel shortage: the growing demand from farmers for harvesting, smuggling across the border to Cambodia, and the reduction in sales commission that has discouraged gas stations from selling diesel.

But it does not mean there is a scarcity in Vietnam, he said, adding “provincial fuel companies will meet the demand for fuel in a couple of days.”

Nguyen Ai Viet, chief of the An Giang market management unit, said his officials will collaborate with relevant agencies to stop the smuggling soon.

But fuel stations will continue to sell only 10 liters to a buyer to prevent speculation until the supply returns to normal, he added.

Local market management authorities will keep a closer eye on gas stations and severely penalize any caught hoarding fuel to sell on the black market.

Since February 24 a liter of diesel has cost VND18,300, or VND4,000 – 5,000 cheaper than in Cambodia.

Damrong accepted as the court said,Preah Vihear and surrounding area belong to Cambodia accordingly based on map drawn by 1904-1907 joint Siam-French-Indochina border commission.

Summary of the Summary of the Judgment of 15 June 1962

CASE CONCERNING THE TEMPLE OF PREAH VIHEAR(MERITS)Judgment of 15 June 1962Proceedings in the case concerning the Temple of Preah Vihear, between Cambodia and Thailand, were instituted on 6 October 1959 by an Application of the Government of Cambodia; the Government of Thailand having raised two preliminary objections, the Court, by its Judgment of 26 May 1961, found that it had jurisdiction.

In its Judgment on the merits the Court, by nine votes to three, found that the Temple of Preah Vihear was situated in territory under the sovereignty of Cambodia and, in consequence, that Thailand was under an obligation to withdraw any military or police forces, or other guards or keepers, stationed by her at the Temple, or in its vicinity on Cambodian territory.

By seven votes to five, the Court found that Thailand was under an obligation to restore to Cambodia any sculptures, stelae, fragments of monuments, sandstone model and ancient pottery which might, since the date of the occupation of the Temple by Thailand in 1954, have been removed from the Temple or the Temple area by the Thai authorities.

In its Judgment, the Court found that the subject of the dispute was sovereignty over the region of the Temple of Preah Vihear. This ancient sanctuary, partially in ruins, stood on a promontory of the Dangrek range of mountains which constituted the boundary between Cambodia and Thailand. The dispute had its fons et origo in the boundary settlements made in the period 1904-1908 between France, then conducting the foreign relations of Indo-China, and Siam. The application of the Treaty of 13 February 1904 was, in particular, involved. That Treaty established the general character of the frontier the exact boundary of which was to be delimited by a Franco-Siamese Mixed Commission

In the eastern sector of the Dangrek range, in which Preah Vihear was situated, the frontier was to follow the watershed line. For the purpose of delimiting that frontier, it was agreed, at a meeting held on 2 December 1906, that the Mixed Commission should travel along the Dangrek range carrying out all the necessary reconnaissance, and that a survey officer of the French section of the Commission should survey the whole of the eastern part of the range. It had not been contested that the Presidents of the French and Siamese sections duly made this journey, in the course of which they visited the Temple of Preah Vihear. In January-February 1907, the President of the French section had reported to his Government that the frontier-line had been definitely established. It therefore seemed clear that a frontier had been surveyed and fixed, although there was no record of any decision and no reference to the Dangrek region in any minutes of the meetings of the Commission after 2 December 1906. Moreover, at the time when the Commission might have met for the purpose of winding up its work, attention was directed towards the conclusion of a further Franco-Siamese boundary treaty, the Treaty of 23 March 1907.

The final stage of the delimitation was the preparation of maps. The Siamese Government, which did not dispose of adequate technical means, had requested that French officers should map the frontier region. These maps were completed in the autumn of 1907 by a team of French officers, some of whom had been members of the Mixed Commission, and they were communicated to the Siamese Government in 1908. Amongst them was a map of the Dangrek range showing Preah Vihear on the Cambodian side. It was on that map (filed as Annex I to its Memorial) that Cambodia had principally relied in support of her claim to sovereignty over the Temple. Thailand, on the other hand, had contended that the map, not being the work of the Mixed Commission, had no binding character; that the frontier indicated on it was not the true watershed line and that the true watershed line would place the Temple in Thailand, that the map had never been accepted by Thailand or, alternatively, that if Thailand had accepted it she had done so only because of a mistaken belief that the frontier indicated corresponded with the watershed line.

The Annex I map was never formally approved by the Mixed Commission, which had ceased to function some months before its production. While there could be no reasonable doubt that it was based on the work of the surveying officers in the Dangrek sector, the Court nevertheless concluded that, in its inception, it had no binding character. It was clear from the record, however, that the maps were communicated to the Siamese Government as purporting to represent the outcome of the work of delimitation; since there was no reaction on the part of the Siamese authorities, either then or for many years, they must be held to have acquiesced. The maps were moreover communicated to the Siamese members of the Mixed Commission, who said nothing. to the Siamese Minister of the Interior, Prince Damrong, who thanked the French Minister in Bangkok for them, and to the Siamese provincial governors, some of whom knew of Preah Vihear. If the Siamese authorities accepted the Annex I map without investigation, they could not now plead any error vitiating the reality of their consent.The Siamese Government and later the Thai Government had raised no query about the Annex I map prior to its negotiations with Cambodia in Bangkok in 1958. But in 1934-1935 a survey had established a divergence between the map line and the true line of the watershed, and other maps had been produced showing the Temple as being in Thailand: Thailand had nevertheless continued also to use and indeed to publish maps showing Preah Vihear as lying in Cambodia. Moreover, in the course of the negotiations for the 1925 and 1937 Franco-Siamese Treaties, which confirmed the existing frontiers, and in 1947 in Washington before the Franco-Siamese Conciliation Commission, it would have been natural for Thailand to raise the matter: she did not do so. The natural inference was that she had accepted the frontier at Preah Vihear as it was drawn on the map, irrespective of its correspondence with the watershed line. Thailand had stated that having been, at all material times, in possession of Preah Vihear, she had had no need to raise the matter; she had indeed instanced the acts of her administrative authorities on the ground as evidence that she had never accepted the Annex I line at Preah Vihear. But the Court found it difficult to regard such local acts as negativing the consistent attitude of the central authorities. Moreover, when in 1930 Prince Damrong, on a visit to the Temple, was officially received there by the French Resident for the adjoining Cambodian province, Siam failed to react.

From these facts, the court concluded that Thailand had accepted the Annex I map. Even if there were any doubt in this connection, Thailand was not precluded from asserting that she had not accepted it since France and Cambodia had relied upon her acceptance and she had for fifty years enjoyed such benefits as the Treaty of 1904 has conferred on her. Furthermore, the acceptance of the Annex I map caused it to enter the treaty settlement; the Parties had at that time adopted an interpretation of that settlement which caused the map line to prevail over the provisions of the Treaty and, as there was no reason to think that the Parties had attached any special importance to the line of the watershed as such, as compared with the overriding importance of a final regulation of their own frontiers, the Court considered that the interpretation to be given now would be the same.

The Court therefore felt bound to pronounce in favour of the frontier indicated on the Annex I map in the disputed area and it became unnecessary to consider whether the line as mapped did in fact correspond to the true watershed line.

For these reasons, the Court upheld the submissions of Cambodia concerning sovereignty over Preah Vihear.Further reading and reference please go to:

30 Mar, 2011Source: Xinhua Cambodia will fully support the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste to become the 11th member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year or next year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Tuesday.

Hun Sen made the remarks during a 30-minute meeting with the visiting President of Timor-Leste, Jose Ramos-Horta at the Peace Palace.

"Cambodia fully supported Timor-Leste to become the 11th member of ASEAN," said Hun Sen during the meeting. "Cambodia's support is regardless Timor-Leste is a small or big, poor or rich country, but to reflect the equal rights of the countries in the region."

Hun Sen expressed his hope that Timor-Leste will be able to join the association this year or next year.

Meanwhile Jose Ramos-Horta said that today Timor-Leste is full of peace and stability, and its economy has a growth of over ten percent since 2007.

He added that the country now has no external debt, instead, it has money surplus deposited in the bank.

"Therefore, the Timor-Leste's request to enter the ASEAN will not be a burden for any country in the bloc," said Jose Ramos- Horta. "Timor-Leste's intention to join ASEAN is to integrate into the ASEAN region and to strengthen and expand regional cooperation."

Timor-Leste submitted a formal application on March 4 to join the ASEAN to the current chair of Indonesia.

Koy Kuong, the spokesman for the Cambodian Foreign Ministry, said after the meeting that Cambodia and Timor-Leste also pledged to cooperate on oil and gas sector and Cambodia will send a delegation to study about the management of oil and gas in Timor- Leste.

Earlier in the day, he was granted a royal audience to King Norodom Sihamoni, and he will pay courtesy calls on Cambodia's Senate President Chea Sim, the National Assembly President Heng Samrin on Wednesday.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Tea Banh said he has no idea when Thai Patriots Network coordinator Veera Somkwamkid and his secretary Ratree Pipatanapaiboon will be granted a royal padon.

He said this in an interview with the Bangkok Post in Phnom Penh.

Gen Tea Banh said procedural steps must be taken in seeking a royal pardon for the convicts, adding that he did not know if Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen had forwarded the petition for a royal pardon filed by Mr Veera and Ms Ratree to the king.

Nobody can tell how the decision would be and when they would be released, he added.

"It's not that anybody can easily ask ask to be released. The Cambodian justice process cannot be interfered with," he said.

Gen Tea Banh said this when asked to comment on Veera and Ratree's petition for a royal pardon.

Gen Wichit Yathip, a former deputy army chief and a close aide to former prime minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, said the Democrat-led government should seek help from people who could talk to Cambodia in order to help the two.

"But the government and the Foreign Ministry have never asked Gen Chavalit or me for help," Gen Wichit said.

Gen Wichit was in Phnom Penh today to take part in the opening of Sofitel Phnom Penh Phokeethra hotel of Thai businessman Supachai Veeranarong. The opening ceremony was chaired by Gen Tea Banh.

However, Gen Chavalit did not attend the event, but sent his wife Khunying Phankrue to represent him.

Mr Veera and Ms Ratree were sentenced to eight and six years in jail respectively after being found guilty of illegal entry and espionage.

They and five other Thais were arrested on Dec 29, initially for illegal entry.

The five other Thais, found guilty on illegal entry, have been freed after their remaining eight months jail sentences were suspended.

Hanoi - Vietnam's exports of farming, seafood and forestry products saw a 33.3-per-cent increase in revenues, reaching 5.4 billion dollars in the first quarter of 2011, officials said Tuesday.

Almost all exports in those sectors gained in value in the first quarter compared with the same three months of last year, government-run Viet Nam News quoted Nguyen Viet Chien, an official from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, as saying.

Exports of farming products rose by 56.2 per cent to 3.4 billion dollars, and seafood products were up 22 per cent to 1.1 billion dollars. Forestry products rose 1.2 per cent to 809 million dollars.

Rice exporters saw a rise in value of 2.9 per cent, earning the country 823 million dollars.

However, the sector could face problems as wheat exports on the world market recover, Chien said.

Vietnam's top rice buyer is the Philippines, which recently signed a contract to receive 200,000 tons of Vietnamese rice at 450 dollars per ton.

Vietnam has made a lot of effort into socio-economic development to improve people’s living conditions, said Cephas Lumina, UN Independent Expert on foreign debts and human rights.

The UN expert made the remark at a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem in Hanoi on March 28.

Cephas Lumina thanked the Vietnamese Government for creating favourable conditions for his visit to Vietnam from March 21-29.

He also welcomed Vietnam’s policy of increased international dialogue and cooperation, including cooperation with the United Nations and development partners, and affirmed the inseparable link between human rights and development.

He valued the usefulness of his current visit to Vietnam, saying that Vietnam’s valuable experiences will be a lesson for UN members whose circumstances are similar to Vietnam’s.

Deputy Prime Minister Khiem said the Vietnamese Government always pays attention to the goal of promoting and protecting human rights.

He stressed that Vietnam attaches importance to international dialogues and cooperation on human rights, especially with the UN.

During his visit to Vietnam, Cephas Lumina had working sessions with the National Assembly’s committees, ministries and agencies in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

He also met and discussed with research agencies, financial institutions, donors and foreign non-governmental organisations operating in Vietnam.

HANOI—Vietnam's year-to-year economic growth slowed in the first quarter as agricultural output slowed, although economists say the lull is likely temporary and that further monetary tightening will be needed to as surging inflationary pressures persist.

Gross domestic product expanded 5.4%, compared with growth of 5.8% in the same period a year earlier, the General Statistics Office said in a statement.

The figure represents a significant slowdown from the fourth quarter of last year, when GDP expanded 7.3% year-to-year. The economy grew 6.8% during the whole of 2010.

Vietnamese authorities recently announced a shift from its long-standing focus on growth, caving in to increasing internal and external demand for policies that promise greater stability as the economy continues to be pounded by surging inflation and a rampant trade deficit.

The government has said it will tighten monetary and fiscal policies, such as by trimming public investment and the budget deficit, boosting domestic production and rebalancing trade. Its credit-growth target will also be lowered to under 20% from 23%.

Moreover, the central bank raised two of its key policy interest rates this month to help battle inflationary pressures, and devalued the dong by 8.5% against the U.S. dollar on Feb. 11 in its fourth devaluation in 14 months.

"The tightening measures have gained traction surprisingly quickly, but we expect activity to start accelerating again into the second quarter," said HSBC economist Sherman Chan.

She said with economic pressures still evident, the government is expected to announce more tightening moves in the coming months, including some interest-rate increases along with possible measures related to bank lending. HSBC is forecasting GDP growth of 6.8% this year, compared with the government target of between 7% and 7.5%.

Imbalances in the economy were further highlighted last week, when data showed that inflation surged 13.89% in March compared with the same month a year earlier—the fastest year-to-year pace since February 2009. Such sharp rises in consumer prices will make it difficult for authorities to cap this year's inflation at their target of 7%.

Vietnam's persistently high trade deficit also widened to $1.15 billion in March from a revised $1.11 billion a month earlier, official data released Tuesday showed.

"Since [the first quarter] is typically the lowest growth quarter of the year, we do not think the authorities are in a position to relax macro policies given today's data release," ANZ Bank said in a research note. "Indeed, we think that year-on-year GDP growth will rise in the coming quarters, albeit at decreasing rates as the monetary tightening measures taken to date begin to bite around mid-year."

It added that if the authorities keep tightening policies and are able to keep real interest rates and inflation expectations under control, economic growth for 2011 should be below 6.5%.

The General Statistics Office said that during the first quarter, the agriculture sector grew just 2.05%, industry expanded 5.47% and the services sector grew 6.28%.

A former Khmer Rouge soldier who lost both arms to an anti-personnel landmine. (Photo: http://npac.ca/)

By CATHERINE WILSON / ASIA SENTINEL Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Cambodia remains littered with millions of unexploded devices left over from 30 years of civil war, the brutality of the Khmer Rouge and conflict with Vietnam.

The government itself believes that as many as 2 percent of the country's 14.7 million people are disabled with landmine casualties a significant proportion.

Poung Mai, who lost both legs when he stepped on a landmine, is one of those victims. He and Chhum Sopheap, who has suffered from polio, are seated on the ground in the midday sun next to the ticket kiosk inside the entrance gates to the National Museum in Phnom Penh with a basket of books to sell, each one carefully wrapped in plastic to lessen the inevitable damage from perpetual sun and dust.

They are among more than 60,000 physically disabled in Cambodia who struggle against poverty, discrimination, unequal access to education and employment and an under-funded and under-resourced state support system.

Cambodia is one of the poorest and most landmine contaminated countries in the world and the challenge of achieving economic inclusion, education and rehabilitation of the disabled is considerable. Numerous demining organisations, such as the Cambodian Mine Action Center, are steadily working to clear the country of millions of unexploded bombs and ordnances in rural regions, especially in the northwest close to the border with Thailand.

With 80 percent of the population residing in rural provinces, the prevalence of landmines has significantly reduced access to agricultural land, forests and water resources, and led to one of the highest rates of disability in the world as people in farming communities are maimed and killed as they go about their daily lives.

According to the Cambodia Mine Victim Information System (CMVIS), there were 286 landmine casualties in 2010, an increase on the 244 reported in 2009 and 271 in 2008, with 15 new casualties in January this year. It estimates that since 1979 there have been 63,821 mine casualties, which corresponds to 39 landmine deaths and injuries every week for 31 years, with about 44,000 survivors.

Poung Mai is from Prey Khmoa village in Prey Veng province where his family were rice farmers.

"During the civil war in Cambodia, the government [Khmer Rouge] arrested me and I was made to work in forestry, woodcutting," he said, "and then I stepped on a landmine." He was 28 years of age when both legs were amputated.

"After I stepped on the landmine, it was difficult," he continued, "I went around begging everywhere, at the market, to feed my family."

Poung has seven children. In 1990 he was removed by authorities to a center that provided food and shelter, but no prospect of livelihood. He subsequently left and found his way to Phnom Penh, where he continued to beg until he joined the Angkor Association for the Disabled in 2009, an organization of people with disabilities founded by Sem Sovantha, who suffered double amputation by a landmine, to provide shelter and training to members and campaign against discrimination.

Chhum Sopheap, also from Prey Veng province, came to Phnom Penh in 1997, sleeping on the streets until he started selling books at the National Museum in 2007.

Both say that the very small income they earn from selling books, on average $4.00 per day, enables them to rent a room and leave behind homelessness, which is often accompanied by alcoholism, mental ill-health, hunger and disease. Belonging to a disabled organization has also marginally improved their experience with the public, they say.

"When they are not with an association," Sem Sovantha explained, "there is a problem with the authorities. When they have an association, people will accept them and talk to them."However, negative social attitudes and discrimination toward the disabled, such as physical harassment, social ostracism and economic exclusion, remain widespread.

Chhum claims that he mostly receives a positive response from visitors and tourists at the National Museum, "but the official in the area is not so happy about us, because he thinks it is not appropriate for us to be selling to tourists."

Local tour guides also attempt to dissuade visitors from being patrons.

"The customer would like to buy," Chhum explains, "but the customer believes the tour guide when he says ‘no, no', because at another shop the tour guide will get a commission."

According to a 2009 ILO report, "People with disabilities are among the most vulnerable groups in Cambodian society. They lack equal access to education, training and employment.

While many workers with disabilities have considerable skills, many have not had the opportunity to develop their potential."

The Cambodian government introduced a Law on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of People with Disabilities in 2009 to support the right to employment without discrimination, and in the same year adopted a National Plan of Action for Persons with Disabilities, including landmine survivors, in order to better address needs and provide services. The stated priorities of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation include strengthening and expanding welfare and rehabilitation services for the disabled, but, according to the Cambodian Disabled Peoples Organization, lack of human and financial resources has hindered real progress toward these goals, although the work of NGOs has resulted in the provision of more vocational training courses.

"Social acceptance and social attitudes toward disabled people and landmine amputees can be improved step by step through the Royal Government having a Disability Law and National Plan for persons with disability," a CDPO spokesperson said, "The problem in Cambodia is that we have the laws, but no budget to implement them."

In the meantime, Chhum Sopheap and Poung Mai strive to sell their books, many of which are biographies and stories of Cambodians, like themselves, who have struggled through the tragedy of the Khmer Rouge era and are determined to not only survive, but live to see a better future.

PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Prosecutors at Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court were set Tuesday to appeal for a life term for former Khmer Rouge cadre Duch, who ran a feared jail where thousands died.

Duch, 68, was sentenced to 30 years in prison last July for war crimes and crimes against humanity for overseeing the deaths of 15,000 people at the notorious torture prison Tuol Sleng in the late 1970s.

The jailer, real name Kaing Guek Eav, was the first former Khmer Rouge cadre to face an international tribunal and both the defence and prosecution are appealing against the punishment in three days of hearings at the court.

During his trial, Duch repeatedly apologised for overseeing mass murder at the detention centre -- also known as S-21 -- but shocked the court by asking to be acquitted in his closing statement in November 2009.

Prosecutors were expected to argue on Tuesday that his U-turn showed a lack of remorse and that the original judgment was too lenient.

They are hoping for a life term for Duch, to be commuted to 45 years on the grounds that he was detained illegally for years.

Prosecutors also want enslavement, imprisonment, torture, extermination, rape and other inhumane acts to be added to Duch's list of convictions.

This would ensure "there is a proper historical record of convictions to fully describe the respondents' crimes," co-prosecutor Andrew Cayley told the Supreme Court Chamber.

The defence team claimed in their appeal on Monday that Duch should never have been put on trial because he falls outside the court's mandate to prosecute the regime's senior leaders and those most responsible for the crimes committed.

They argued that Duch was "just a minor secretary" following orders and he should therefore be released.

At his trial, Duch was originally given a 35-year jail sentence but this was reduced for the period of unlawful detention.

Given time already served, Duch could walk free in less than 19 years, much to the dismay of many victims of the brutal 1975-1979 regime.

A ruling on the appeals is expected in late June.

Led by "Brother Number One" Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge wiped out nearly a quarter of Cambodia's population through starvation, overwork and execution.

S-21, in Phnom Penh, was at the centre of the regime's security apparatus and thousands of inmates were taken from there for execution in a nearby orchard.

Duch has been detained since 1999, when he was found working as a Christian aid worker in the jungle. He was formally arrested by the tribunal in July 2007.

Four more of the regime's former members -- including "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea -- are due to go on trial later this year and Duch is expected to appear as a witness.

Viet Nam and Thailand will preserve and effectively develop bilateral mechanisms to deepen their cooperative relations.

This was confirmed by Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister cum Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem and Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya at their talks in Hanoi on March 23.

The two sides expressed their belief that bilateral ties would further prosper in the future, contributing to each country’s development.

They agreed to urge their ministries, agencies and localities to work together to successfully celebrate the 35 th anniversary of diplomatic ties on August 6.

Deputy PM Khiem expressed his hope that the Thai Foreign Minister’s visit would contribute to bolstering friendship and multifaceted relations between the two countries.

For his part, the Thai Foreign Minister spoke highly of Viet Nam for its role as ASEAN Chair in 2010, expressing his delight at achievements the two sides recorded in multilateral forums.

He also took the occasion to inform his host about progress over recent conflicts in the Thailand-Cambodia border.

Deputy PM Khiem affirmed that Viet Nam welcomed the two neighbours’ agreement to hold meetings of the Cambodia-Thailand General Border Committee and Joint Border Committee on Demarcation of Land Boundary, Indonesia on April 7 and 8.

Viet Nam always desires that Thailand and Cambodia will continue to deal with their conflicts through peaceful negotiations, on the basis of fundamental principles of international law, the UN Chapter and in the spirit of friendship and solidarity in the bloc, for the benefit of the two countries’ people, and for peace, stability, cooperation in the region and the world at large, he stressed.

Both host and guest committed to continue their cooperation at regional and international forums, contributing to raising ASEAN’s position in the world arena

Democrat MP Panich Vikitsreth, who along with six other Thais was convicted in January of illegal entry into Cambodia, is planning to visit the two who remain jailed in Phnom Penh.

Panich: Spent month in Phnom Penh jail

Mr Panich, an MP for Bangkok, and four others were released from Prey Sar prison by the Phnom Penh Municipality in January after being handed suspended sentences.

But Thai Patriots Network coordinator Veera Somkhwamkid and his secretary, Ratree Pipattanapaiboon, were convicted of further charges of espionage and jailed for eight and six years, respectively.

Pending approval from the Cambodian government, Mr Panich, who spent a month in the prison while awaiting judgement, will accompany relatives of Veera and Ratree Pipattanapaiboon on the trip to Phnom Penh.

They will make the trip immediately after receiving this approval.

"I am waiting for a reply from the Cambodian government as to whether they will allow me and the detainees' relatives to visit Veera and Ratree at the prison," said Mr Panich.

The MP asked the Foreign Ministry last Thursday to send a document seeking permission for the visit from the Cambodian government.

"I really want to meet [Veera and Ratree]," said Mr Panich.

"I will tell them that neither I nor the government have ever ignored them and we intend to help them return to Thailand as soon as possible."

Meanwhile, Veera's mother, Wilaiwan, repeated her call for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to help her son before the general election.

"The prime minister promised to help my son," said Mrs Wilaiwan.

"That's why I want the case to be solved within this government's tenure."

They had all served almost one month and the court suspended the remaining eight, allowing the five Thais to be released from prison and to travel home. They also each paid fines of 1 million riel, or about 10,000 baht.Veera and Ratree's judgements followed on Feb 1 and they have both since applied for a royal pardon from King Norodom Sihamoni.

PHNOM PENH, March 28 (Reuters) - At least eight female garment workers were injured on Monday in clashes with Cambodian riot police, who used shields and electric shock batons to end a protest over a factory closure, witnesses and a union said.

Some demonstrators were pushed to the ground and shocked with batons when police with guns and riot gear were deployed to forcibly end a road blockade by an estimated 1,000 female workers who were demanding unpaid wages and compensation after a local factory went bankrupt.

The clashes were the latest setback for an industry that forms a vital part of Cambodia's fledgling $10 billion economy. The garment sector was badly hit during the global economic slump from 2008 and more recently has been plagued by strikes over low pay and working conditions.

"Police were ordered to beat up workers, some were hit in the heads and shoulders and others were pushed to the ground," said Chhoeun Chanthy, a 30-year-old garment worker . "We were not afraid, we were peaceful."

Chea Mony, president of the Cambodia's Free Trade Union (FTU), told Reuters the total number of injured was unknown and some workers were being held in police custody.

"This is very serious. These workers were only in dispute with employers," Chea Mony said. "This violence is not justified," he said, adding that a government committee tasked with dealing with such disputes was "useless".

Phnom Penh police chief Touch Naruth declined to comment and a legal representative for the factory was unavailable.

Garment manufacturing is Cambodia's third-biggest currency earner after agriculture and tourism. About 30,000 jobs were lost in 2009 after a drop in sales to the United States and Europe.

The downturn led to a strike by more than 210,000 garment factory workers last year and more mass strikes have been threatened over a controversial move by the government to regulate trade unions. [ID:nSGE72E03M]

Cambodia exported garments, textiles and shoes to the value of $2.3 billion in 2009, down from $2.9 billion in 2008. According to the World Bank, the sector is in recovery and exports grew 24 percent in 2010 after a 20 percent contraction.

An estimated 300,000 of Cambodia's 13.4 million people work in the sector and send vital cash to impoverished rural villages where many people live on less than $1 a day.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Cambodia remains littered with millions of unexploded devices left over from 30 years of civil war, the brutality of the Khmer Rouge and conflict with Vietnam.

The government itself believes that as many as 2 percent of the country's 14.7 million people are disabled with landmine casualties a significant proportion.

Poung Mai, who lost both legs when he stepped on a landmine, is one of those victims. He and Chhum Sopheap, who has suffered from polio, are seated on the ground in the midday sun next to the ticket kiosk inside the entrance gates to the National Museum in Phnom Penh with a basket of books to sell, each one carefully wrapped in plastic to lessen the inevitable damage from perpetual sun and dust.

They are among more than 60,000 physically disabled in Cambodia who struggle against poverty, discrimination, unequal access to education and employment and an under-funded and under-resourced state support system.

Cambodia is one of the poorest and most landmine contaminated countries in the world and the challenge of achieving economic inclusion, education and rehabilitation of the disabled is considerable. Numerous demining organisations, such as the Cambodian Mine Action Center, are steadily working to clear the country of millions of unexploded bombs and ordnances in rural regions, especially in the northwest close to the border with Thailand.

With 80 percent of the population residing in rural provinces, the prevalence of landmines has significantly reduced access to agricultural land, forests and water resources, and led to one of the highest rates of disability in the world as people in farming communities are maimed and killed as they go about their daily lives.

According to the Cambodia Mine Victim Information System (CMVIS), there were 286 landmine casualties in 2010, an increase on the 244 reported in 2009 and 271 in 2008, with 15 new casualties in January this year. It estimates that since 1979 there have been 63,821 mine casualties, which corresponds to 39 landmine deaths and injuries every week for 31 years, with about 44,000 survivors.

Poung Mai is from Prey Khmoa village in Prey Veng province where his family were rice farmers.

"During the civil war in Cambodia, the government [Khmer Rouge] arrested me and I was made to work in forestry, woodcutting," he said, "and then I stepped on a landmine." He was 28 years of age when both legs were amputated.

"After I stepped on the landmine, it was difficult," he continued, "I went around begging everywhere, at the market, to feed my family."

Poung has seven children. In 1990 he was removed by authorities to a center that provided food and shelter, but no prospect of livelihood. He subsequently left and found his way to Phnom Penh, where he continued to beg until he joined the Angkor Association for the Disabled in 2009, an organization of people with disabilities founded by Sem Sovantha, who suffered double amputation by a landmine, to provide shelter and training to members and campaign against discrimination.

Chhum Sopheap, also from Prey Veng province, came to Phnom Penh in 1997, sleeping on the streets until he started selling books at the National Museum in 2007.

Both say that the very small income they earn from selling books, on average $4.00 per day, enables them to rent a room and leave behind homelessness, which is often accompanied by alcoholism, mental ill-health, hunger and disease. Belonging to a disabled organization has also marginally improved their experience with the public, they say.

"When they are not with an association," Sem Sovantha explained, "there is a problem with the authorities. When they have an association, people will accept them and talk to them."However, negative social attitudes and discrimination toward the disabled, such as physical harassment, social ostracism and economic exclusion, remain widespread.

Chhum claims that he mostly receives a positive response from visitors and tourists at the National Museum, "but the official in the area is not so happy about us, because he thinks it is not appropriate for us to be selling to tourists."

Local tour guides also attempt to dissuade visitors from being patrons.

"The customer would like to buy," Chhum explains, "but the customer believes the tour guide when he says ‘no, no', because at another shop the tour guide will get a commission."

According to a 2009 ILO report, "People with disabilities are among the most vulnerable groups in Cambodian society. They lack equal access to education, training and employment. While many workers with disabilities have considerable skills, many have not had the opportunity to develop their potential."

The Cambodian government introduced a Law on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of People with Disabilities in 2009 to support the right to employment without discrimination, and in the same year adopted a National Plan of Action for Persons with Disabilities, including landmine survivors, in order to better address needs and provide services. The stated priorities of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation include strengthening and expanding welfare and rehabilitation services for the disabled, but, according to the Cambodian Disabled Peoples Organization, lack of human and financial resources has hindered real progress toward these goals, although the work of NGOs has resulted in the provision of more vocational training courses.

"Social acceptance and social attitudes toward disabled people and landmine amputees can be improved step by step through the Royal Government having a Disability Law and National Plan for persons with disability," a CDPO spokesperson said, "The problem in Cambodia is that we have the laws, but no budget to implement them."

In the meantime, Chhum Sopheap and Poung Mai strive to sell their books, many of which are biographies and stories of Cambodians, like themselves, who have struggled through the tragedy of the Khmer Rouge era and are determined to not only survive, but live to see a better future.

In this photo released by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, who ran the notorious Toul Sleng detention center, looks on during his appeal at the UN-backed war crimes tribunal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday, March 28, 2011. (AP Photo/ Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Mark Peters)

The Associated PressDate: Monday Mar. 28, 2011

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — The man who admitted to overseeing the torture and killing of 16,000 people as the Khmer Rouge's chief prison warden returned to the courtroom Monday in Cambodia to appeal his 19-year prison sentence for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Kaing Guek Eav -- also known as Duch -- is the only person so far to be tried by a special UN-backed tribunal set up to investigate and prosecute officials from the brutal ultra-Marxist regime whose four-year rule in the 1970s led to the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people.

The 68-year-old Duch was sentenced last July to 35 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity, but the sentenced was commuted to 19 years due to time already served and other technicalities. The sentence was widely criticized as too lenient. Victims and relatives of the Khmer Rouge have expressed outrage by the sentence, which could allow Duch to one day walk free.

Defence lawyers have argued that Duch was wrongfully convicted because the tribunal -- known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia -- was supposed to try only senior Khmer Rouge leaders. They argue that Duch was not a top leader and was merely following orders.

Duch briefly told the court Monday that his case hinged on "personal jurisdiction" — that is, whether the court had authority to prosecute him. He then sat impassively as his lawyers spoke.

"Duch was just a minor secretary who had no real authority to make any real decisions or do anything contradictory to the orders of the upper echelon," defense lawyer Kar Savuth said.

"He was of course a perpetrator, but he received orders from his superiors like at other prisons," he said. "How could he be considered to be one of those most responsible for the crimes?"

Kar argued that Duch was a victim of selective prosecution, since the court has not sought to indict chiefs of the Khmer Rouge's other 195 prisons, where he said far more people died than under Duch.

During his 77-day trial, Duch admitted to overseeing the deaths of up to 16,000 people who passed through the gates of the notorious Toul Sleng prison -- also known as S-21 -- in Phnom Penh. Prisoners were accused of being enemies of the regime, and many were tortured into making false confessions. Torture methods included pulling out prisoners' toenails, administering electric shocks and waterboarding -- a form of simulated drowning.

Prosecutors have also appealed the sentence, seeking life in prison for Duch, and were scheduled to present their appeal Tuesday.

On Monday, prosecutors rebutted the defense arguments, saying Duch's lawyers should have raised the question of "personal jurisdiction" during the trial phase and that Duch's indictment was legitimate because S-21 was the Khmer Rouge's largest and most important prison.

"S-21 was operated as a tool by the security apparatus to smash any (subversives) in its ranks," prosecutor Chea Leang told the court. "S-21 had the scope to cover the whole country. It was the only center that provided advice and coordinated the smashes of the people in coordination with the administration and the military across the country."

A ruling was expected "in the next few months," said tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath.

The appeals will once again focus attention on the UN court as it gears up for another trial later this year of four senior Khmer Rouge leaders: Nuon Chea, the Khmer Rouge's chief ideologist; Khieu Samphan, its former head of state; Ieng Sary, its foreign minister; and his wife Ieng Thirith, who was minister for social affairs.

Critics say the tribunal -- 10 years and $100 million in the making -- has been too slow to investigate potential suspects and bring them to trial. The four leaders scheduled to stand trial in June are all in their 70s and 80s and in poor health.

The court has also faced allegations of corruption and has been stonewalled by the current Cambodian government headed by Prime Minister Hun Sen, himself a former Khmer Rouge military commander. Hun Sen has vehemently fought the tribunal's efforts to bring more Khmer Rouge officials to justice, arguing that such moves could destabilize the poor country.

BANGKOK, March 29 - Thai Defence Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan on Monday stood firm that there is no need for the Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) to meet in a third country, emphasising that the border conflict is a bilateral issue between the two neighbours.

The Thai defence minister expressed his stance following reports that his Cambodian counterpart Gen Tea Banh said the upcoming JBC meeting will be held in Indonesia, which is the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Gen Prawit said the Cambodian defence minister has not yet talked to him about the matter but said the two countries have no need for the border meeting to take place in a third country as the dispute can be solved at the bilateral level.

"I look at the overall situation, the people of the two countries can still cross the border normally and border trade is still business as usual with no border closure," Gen Prawit said. "Thais can cross the border to Cambodia while the Cambodians can also visit Thailand. So why can't we hold the meeting in the two countries?"

Tension along the Thai-Cambodian border was renewed after clashes between soldiers of the two countries erupted near the ancient Preah Vihear temple on Feb 4, leading to casualties among the troops and civilians from both sides, as well as forcing the evacuation of villagers living on both sides of the disputed area.

The JBC meeting was scheduled to be held in Thailand in February but was deferred after the deadly clashes.

Meanwhile, key leaders of the 'Yellow Shirt' People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) on Monday submitted a letter to lawmakers at the Thai Parliament to oppose the possible approval of the minutes of three JBC meetings scheduled to be considered in the joint sitting of the House of Representatives and the Senate tomorrow.

PAD spokesman Panthep Puapongphan said the movement decided to lodge a third complaint letter regarding the three JBC documents. The group accused Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva of distorting information on the case and of trying to convince the legislators to endorse the documents.

Mr Panthep however said it was unnecessary for the PAD supporters to stage rally at Parliament tomorrow, but the group will closely monitor the joint sitting.

Another Yellow Shirt leader, Prapan Koonmee, said the PAD legal team will discuss its next move if the minutes of the three JBC meetings are finally approved by Parliament.

The PAD has opposed parliamentary endorsement of three previous memos by the JBC, claiming they may end up in the loss of Thai territory adjacent to the ancient temple. They also demanded revocation of the MoU signed with Cambodia in 2000.

The International Court of Justice in 1962 ruled that the 11th century temple belongs to Phnom Penh, and UNESCO named it a World Heritage site in 2008 after Cambodia applied to register the status. Both countries claim a 4.6-square-kilometre strip of land adjacent to the cliff-top temple. (MCOT online news)

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Statement—As the deadline for reaching a decision comes closer, four Lower Mekong Basin Countries have agreed to convene a special session on the prior consultation process for the proposed Xayaburi mainstream hydropower development project, before determining how they should proceed with the proposal.

The countries, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam, reached this decision at the 33rd Mekong River Commission (MRC) Joint Committee (JC) Meeting in Preah Sihanouk Province which ends tomorrow. They agreed that they would join with the intent to seek a conclusion at the newly-scheduled meeting on 21 April 2011.

The Xayaburi project, proposed by the Government of Lao PDR, falls under the MRC’s Procedures for Notification, Prior Consultation and Agreement (PNPCA) process, which require that the four countries come together with the aim of reaching a conclusion on the proposal within six months of its submission. The deadline for the end of this formal process is 22 April 2011.

The Xayaburi project, designed to generate power for consumption in Thailand and Lao PDR, is tabled for consideration, among other management, organisational and procedures-related matters, at this internal meeting. The JC Members, comprising one senior official from each of the four countries, agree to hold a special Joint Committee meeting in Vientiane, Lao PDR to come to a conclusion on the project.

Since the notification of what would be the first dam project on the mainstream of the Lower Mekong River, the countries have conducted national consultations with related stakeholders including potentially affected communities, to gauge their views and perspectives on the project. The MRC Secretariat also commissioned a team of experts in several sectors including fisheries, sediment and dam safety design to review documents including the Environmental Impact Assessment submitted by the Government of the Lao PDR to other MRC countries.

The JC Members also agreed to disclose to the public the MRC technical review which has been used by the four countries as part of their consideration of the project.

The report was presented at the meeting today but the Member Countries have not provided their official comments on it yet. Lao PDR, as the notifying country, commented that the report is a valuable contribution to the process of considering the Xayaburi project as well as other similar development initiatives but will provide its detailed comments at a later time.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

The 1995 MRC Mekong Agreement established the Procedures for Notification, Prior Consultation and Agreement (PNPCA), which states that Member Countries must notify the MRC’s Joint Committee in the event they wish to engage in any major infrastructure developments (such as hydropower schemes) on the mainstream Mekong or tributaries, particularly as those developments may have significant trans-boundary impacts on people or the environment downstream.

The PNPCA process itself is the formal mechanism in place to enable one or more Member Countries to submit an individual project for regional consideration. In the case of the Xayaburi dam project, the Government of Lao PDR submitted the proposal to the MRC, which began the prior consultation process.

The prior consultation process is one of a number of protocols in the 1995 Mekong Agreement to promote cooperation in sustainable management of the basin's water resources and avoid regional disputes developing.

The Xayaburi hydropower project would be the first such project on the Mekong mainstream downstream of China and would be capable of generating 1260 megawatts of electricity, mainly for export to Thailand.

The Xayaburi dam is located approximately 150 km downstream of Luang Prabang in northern Lao PDR. The dam has an installed capacity of 1,260 megawatts with a dam 810 m long and 32 m high and has a reservoir area of 49 km2 and live storage of 1,300 cubic metres. The primary objective of the Xayaburi dam project is to generate foreign exchange earnings for financing socio-economic development in Lao PDR. The developer is Ch. Karnchang Public Co. Ltd. of Thailand who negotiated a tariff agreement with EGAT in July 2010.

The MRC Secretariat acts as a facilitating body for the prior consultation process. It is the intergovernmental advisory body responsible for cooperation on the sustainable management of the Mekong Basin whose members include Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam. In dealing with this challenge, the commission looks across all sectors including sustaining fisheries, identifying opportunities for agriculture, maintaining the freedom of navigation, flood management and preserving important ecosystems.

The 33rd Joint Committee Meeting, held during 24 – 26 March 2011, is the MRC’s scheduled bi-annual event ogranised for regular discussion on management, organisational, policy and procedures-related matters. The Xayaburi project is tabled as one of a wide range of agenda items at this meeting.

For more information on the MRC PNPCA process please visit the MRC PNPCA webpage.